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Posted March 4, 2013 09:52 pm - Updated January 22, 2016 03:25 pm

Letters to the Editor Tuesday

Cal Thomas, in his Feb. 26 column entitled “Florida’s ‘Gov. Gump,’” states “charities and religious bodies are obligated to help the weak and the poor, state and federal governments have no such obligation.”

The preamble to the Declaration of Independence states that the foundation and principles of government are “to secure the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It does not say to promote the general welfare of only the wealthy.

Hence our government does have a legal obligation to assist the weak and the poor.

Charities and religious bodies, on the other hand, may have moral obligations to help the weak and the poor. But unless such obligation appears in their corporate charters or bylaws, they have no legal obligation to do so.

Most of the people receiving government subsidies have either contributed to society and paid their taxes and Social Security most of their lives, or are not mentally or physically able individuals, or have been caught by the economic downturn and are unable to find employment or earn a living wage, although they still try to.

Such people deserve government assistance not only as a moral obligation of society, but also as a legal obligation of a government whose purpose is to maintain the general welfare and promote the happiness of its people.

JOEL F. SPIVAK

Savannah

Is Georgia Southern like Rutgers? Not at all

Comparing Rutgers’ football business to Georgia Southern University’s is comparing Statesboro to New York City.

Rutgers has approximately 10 million people within 40 miles of its stadium. GSU may have 100,000 people.

Rutgers’ local TV market is the largest in the country. GSU’s TV market, Savannah, is ranked about 90th.

Rutgers is the flagship state university of New Jersey. New Jersey is the most densely populated and second wealthiest state in our great county. Rutgers is the eighth oldest college in the United States. Rutgers often referred to as the birthplace of college football for their 1869 6-4 win over Princeton in the first ever college football game.

The step-up has worked for many schools and GSU has the pedigree. It seems schools in larger metropolitan areas are more successful, like University of Central Florida/Orlando and University of South Florida/Tampa.

I attended GSU and the University of Georgia and rarely missed a tailgate or game either one. What does GSU have that Rutgers does not? Sweetheart Circle and a hometown feel, where people look each other in the eye and literally introduce themselves to someone they have never met.

Game day at Southern has a county fair, hometown, fall festival vibe.

Bigger is not always better, but I will always pull for the Eagles, except against UGA.

CHRIS WILCOX

Savannah

Close our porous border and stop sex trafficking

In response to the “Sex trafficking in Georgia must stop” column Feb. 28, by State Rep. Keisha Waites, although I am happy that Ms. Waites has brought this tragedy to light, I feel that she is misguided on the proper action to be taken.

Ms. Waites feels that another law will stop the sex trafficking. The ugly truth is that most of the sex slaves are coming from Central and South America through our porous border. Both Democrats and Republicans are partly to blame.

I feel that the Democrats are more responsible. When Republicans pushed to close the border, the Democrats decided to utilize this as an opportunity to gain Hispanic votes. A first step is to close the border; this will not only stop illegal immigrants, but also drugs and sex slaves.

This inhuman industry is a direct result of the war on God and Judeo-Christian values. A society without “God” and Judeo-Christian values will fall into a society of people who only care about self-indulgence and have a disregard for authority and human life. Destroy this industry, close the border and reinstate values as a priority in our society.

PHILLIP SCROGGIN, SR.

Pooler

Wireless companies need help with cell towers

In the last few years, AT&T has experienced a 20,000 percent increase in data traffic on our networks. Wireless broadband and all of the services it enables is now a critical part of most of our lives. Whether we are keeping track of our kids, taking orders for products, calling for help in an emergency or just surfing the web for fun, we are reaching the web from a handheld device.

All of this demand requires investment in wireless infrastructure so that our calls go through and don’t drop, so that our downloads don’t take forever and so that we can receive all the texts we have sent.

Right now, Georgia legislators are considering a bill, HB 176, the Mobile BILD Act, that will incentivize investment in wireless infrastructure to provide the wireless service that Georgians desire. It seeks to streamline and standardize the permitting process for wireless infrastructure to remove unnecessary delays and to eliminate excessive costs that hurt consumers.

This legislation has been written carefully to not affect local zoning. It strikes a balance between the needs of local governments to determine the zoning for their communities and the needs of consumers and businesses for improved services.

JAY BAUSHER

AT&T Store Manager

Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Historical Society run by ‘guilt-ridden whites’

As a retired academic historian, I can second Eugene Friedman’s dismay at historians at the Georgia Historical Society agitating to rename our Talmadge Bridge.

It recalls the fury of French Revolutionary fanatics to rename everything deemed royalist or Christian, including the Gregorian calendar.

Or the Bolsheviks renaming St. Petersburg after arch-criminal Vladimir Lenin, who himself changed his own family name, as did Stalin as well.

My own brief encounter with members of the Georgia Historical Society convinced me that they were guilt-ridden, Southern whites still worried about slavery in our history. There is no one more pathetic than guilt-ridden, Southern whites.

But when all is said and done, Voltaire said it all: “History is a pack of tricks we play on the dead.”